Each year at the film festival the Peter J. Owens award is presented to an actor whose body of work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. The festival this year paid tribute to an actor whose body of work consists of approximately 35 films, Nicolas Cage. In each of his films Cage portrays a unique and individualized character such that it would be rather difficult to pin down exactly who the real Nicolas Cage really is based solely on his performances. This fact alone made attendance at the Peter J Owens award ceremony worthwhile as a primary portion of the program would be an interview and audience Q&A with Nicolas Cage.

Unfortunately the ceremony got off to a rather shakey start with a fumbling, somewhat pathetic rambling introduction by San Francisco's own media slut mayor, Willie Brown. This performance guaranteed that our mayor would never get a major film role. Following this feeble introduction, and a presentation of video clips comprising his career, Cage received his award very graciously and presented the obligatory "Thank You's" and "I love San Francisco's" that would seem completely mandatory in such an instance.

The following interview was rather enjoyable. During the interview Cage was able to touch on aspects of his career where he took chances that seemed unreasonable such as his character in Peggy Sue Got Married whose voice was modeled after Gumby's sidekick Pokey. Cage also explained how the exposure to unique cinema as a child helped to shape his desire to act, as well as the approach he took to many of his parts. He emphasized the profound impact being scared senseless by the images of Nosferatu would have on him as an actor in the future.

With equal ease and and warmth Nicolas Cage answered the questions presented to him by an eager and receptive audience. Cage also was able to explain many of the differences he encountered with various directors over time and the approach to working with them he had taken. It is no surprise that he mentioned at this point the great learning experience his work with David Lynch on Wild at Heart had been. He explained how challenging it was to arrive on the set and have your characters parts rewritten spontaneously from day to day and the approach he had to take, as an actor, to meet these challenges that Lynch had presented to him through his directorial methodologies.

To round out the interview Cage made mention that, much to director Alan Parker's dismay, he had always referred to his role in the the film Birdy, the film to be screened following the interview, as emotional vomit. He also mentioned that it would be interesting to see the film again, to determine whether this truly was the case or if he could find something substantial in the way he portrayed the character over time.

All-in-all Nicolas Cage's responsiveness, kind character, and pleasant disposition were extremely welcome and entertaining. His receipt of the Peter J. Owens award was proven not only to be well founded but also made for a rather entertaining evening of interaction.